Hello, people of Tyria!Everyone’s talking about their servers only from the WvW perspective, trying to recruit as many numbers as possible before the paid transfers, focusing only on the mass PvP aspect of the game.

There’s more to it, as we all know. There’s the beautiful PvE side of the game, as well, plus all the opportunities to get together just for a bit of social fun.Gunnar’s Hold is not only a rising star in the European WvW (and if you want to read a bit more about it, or join the effort, be sure to click here first), but also the place to be for PvE and social get togethers.

It’s even more so important with guesting finally just around the corner. Every EU player will be able to join us for PvE and social events we organise, and everyone is welcome to drop by, say hello and have fun together

I will keep this thread somewhat up-to-date with the pre-planned PvE/social events organised on GH. But to give you a rough idea of what’s happening here…

1. Daily mining runsEvery day at 7pm GMT we get together to gather the high tier crafting materials from Orr, Frostgorge Sound and Southsun Cove. We plan the route ahead, based on our community node map. We usually have a commander present to organise the run easier.Easy materials, easy money!

2. Weekly Balthazar Temple LiberationEvery Wednesday after the mining run we organise a rush at the Balthazar Temple to allow all our server mates get their obsidian shards. With guesting, everyone will have a 2~3h window of opportunity to get their shards every week!We’ve been doing it for almost two months now, and it’s really brought the server community a little step closer.

3. Orr Temples LiberationAbout every week or so we also liberate the other temples in a pre-planned rush, with everyone from the server invited to join.

4. Costume Brawl ExtravaganzaWhile this video shows our first social event featuring costume brawling as its main point of interest, we hope to expand on simply social get togethers as well, not only ‘serious PvE business’. An hour or two of meeting up ‘in person’ and fooling around, getting some brawling champions, getting free booze from the arrangers – fun, fun, fun!

5. Jumping puzzle and achievement runsWe’re also organising runs for jps and boss achievements from time to time, be it the Misplaced Ogre or the Spekks’ Laboratory.

6. Your own event!Everyone on GH can organise and get people for anything they want, picking their own time and place. We’re all open to initiative!

…and more

Feel free to join us on the next Balthazar Temple liberation on 30.01 around 7.45pm GMT, even when guesting, and get the feel of GH hospitality o/

All the planning takes place on the GH community forum, so be sure to join it asap if you’re a fellow GHian http://www.gunnars-hold.eu

edit:In case of my absence, any non-trolling and current GH player may update this thread.

Just a reminder - if you need Obsidian Shards, we're organising a Balthazar Temple Liberation Rush tonight (~7.45pm GMT), so feel free to guest over The shards should be available for 2-3 hours after we're done.

As soon as the rush is over, we're heading to Hoelbrak for costume brawling o/

We'd like to invite all WvW players of Far Shiverpeaks and Drakkar Lake, our current's matchup opponents, for a social get-together in Hoelbrak, Gunnar's Hold, this Friday at 8pm GMT. Fun and contests (with prizes!) ensured. To quote the event's organiser, Lippsy:

We will be holding a end of match celebration this friday at 8pm GMT+0 in Hoelbrak on Gunnar’s Hold. We hope you all will make use of the guesting systems to join us there.

Why Hoelbrak you ask? The answer is simple. KEG BRAWLING.

We will start of with some boxes of fun and then try some keg brawling at 9pm if you are all game ^.^Since we will be in PVE we can also talk and joke together which we were unable to do last Friday. We will also have no nasty party crashers ^.^

Same prizes as last week are up fro grabs (hopefully people will enter this time )

There will be prizes for the following:

3 ectos for the best screenshot of you as a statue (medusa effect you get from the mystery box)3 ectos for the best screenshot of people line dancing3 ectos for the best costume brawl screenshot3 ectos for the best keg brawl photo

Also, a small reminder about tonight's Balthazar & Grenth temples liberation. Be sure to hop in at 8pm today if you nee obsidian shards!

So the thing is that these goggles are a pain...the whole puzzle is very unforgiving, but the last bits are even more. So if you tried it and failed it, or have not even tried yet but curious, or did it but want to help others come around Wednesday at 8PM CEST (Amsterdam, Rome, Berlin)/ 7PM BST (London).Where is it?

Not So Secret is a jumping puzzle in Gendarran Fields with two routes. The first leads to the Not So Secret achievement and the other to a pair of Diving Goggles.

What is planned?There are two achievements here, the jumping puzzle (get the shiny chest) and the diving goggles (hit the water). We plan to get a mesmer at the chest (fairly fast and easy, one portal is enough) and a portal chain up to the goggles (bit more painful) so people only need to get into the retreat where the ship is (it isn't trivial but shouldn't be too bad) and from there just portal them up.Now the tricky bit is that the dive itself isn't simple as you would think. There are several pipes on the way and while falling you need to avoid them, so people tend to die before they get the achievement. Hopefully with the portals you can try to hit that patch of a water as many times as you have patience for.What do we need?We need mesmers (Low levels are fine as long as they have portal as Gendarran is a 25-35 zone. Also better trait the jump damage/portal recharge time reduction for this event.), at least 4 to be comfortable (one for the chest, 3 for the jp though the latter could use one more too. I got my own mesmer circa halfway up the jp, can portal others up there earlier if anyone wants to leave their alt ready there before the event). We need volunteers scattered around at different levels to res the dead people.If you volunteer as a mesmer/resurrection specialist please whisper Eili. Would be nice to have a surplus of mesmers so the ones, who are porting people originally can also get the achievement.

If you want to help: To make it as fluid as possible I'd need some volunteers who don't mind to stick around for 30 mins or an hour or two, guiding people into the jumping puzzle itself and helping with the resurrections.

The latter is really the tricky part, as without reviving the whole thing doesn't really work even with tons of mesmers, so any help is much appreciated!

Organised by Commander Troy, folks gather up and have a stroll through PvE world bosses just as the daily reset kicks in.To get aboard, hang out in our Lion's Arch around midnight GMT and keep an eye out on the /m chat. During the run, be sure to join the commander's squad for extra chat and giggles over the /d chat.

If you have any questions or would like to express your love about the event, contact the commander herself in-game - Saint Troy.9258

Commander Troy Callindrael here, dropping in to say hello and to leave some additional information on Gunnar's Hold Daily Reset World Tours here that people may find useful. Handy place to redirect people to with a link.

Announcement of start location is normally given at around daily reset at 00:00UTC (midnight GMT) in Lion's Arch, when we are about to get rolling. I am normally out and about before tour begins, and will meet people at whatever destination is first stop.

Use command /sqjoin Troy Callindrael to join squad at the start of tour. Use /d as shortcut to talk. Make sure squad chat is enabled in your chat options to be able to see it (it's a vile yellow colour, but there is nothing I can do about that). It's mainly used as a social chatroom, but links are also put in that chat for folks that are left behind, skipping an event, or have wandered off to use the Mystic Forge on the drops their bags are bulging with (I kid you not). If squad becomes full, come along anyway, let us know, and we can use map chat. If you wish to join us after the start, whisper me and I will let you know our current location.

Our World Tour can last anywhere between two and five hours, normally three or four, and takes in a whole bunch of bosses and events over a lot of maps. The order of our stops varies depending on circumstances, but we typically hit around twelve, sometimes more, bosses over that period. Each of our main stops ends with a boss of some sort that has a daily bonus chest reward, which guarantees you a rare item or better, but there are plenty of other drop opportunities along the way for those looking for some loot to line their pockets with. The event chains we take in also reward Karma and coin. If you do not have one of our waypoints, there is a chance you have one nearby and can run to the event.

Sometimes there can be a bit of a wait for an event to start or progress, which can lead to the odd dance party or costume brawl. This tour also comes with the warning: may encourage snacking - it often happens, due to squad chat often featuring talk of food.

This is an odd time for a thing like this, some may say. Well, my answer to that is that Gunnar's Hold is an International server. We have folks from all sorts of timezones, that play at what others would consider odd hours, for all sorts of different reasons. 00:00UTC is midnight for me, is early to mid evening for US/Canadians, is morning for Australia and Asia, is very late night for EU, and we have participants that come from all of the above that join us on tour. It does not matter where you come from, all are welcome to join us, but there is fair warning that you may end up staying up FAR later than you originally thought if you catch this train (it seems to be fairly common on tours).

Last night a number of us ran naked, just for the added challenge. We liberated the Temple of Grenth that way, with laughs and giggles all the time.